AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2244, 4 March 1897, Page 4

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL NEWS.

The carcase competitions, instituted at the Smithfield Club shows for the first time in 1895, were agajn moderately well supported at the 1896 exhibition. The cattle and two of the three sheep contests attracted a creditable number of entries. The quality of the exhibit* was far in advance of that witnessed on the first occasion, there being a very much smaller proportion of fat low-priced meat and waste on most of the carcases. In the class for steen under two years the first prize was won with a very handsome Aberdeen-Angus body, admirably mixed, with a minimum of cheap beef and practically no waste. This bullock dressed 6? per cent, of his live weight. The second prize was awarded to a nicely marbled Sussex, the carcase dressing 66 percent.; while the third in merit dressed 64 per cent., and showed a heavy proportion of lean. In the class for. steers under three years the first prize was won with a fine body of Welsh fceef, absolutely free of waste and showing excellent quality. The bullock dressed 64 per cent, of his live weight, which was 81b over 14c*t. Three very creditable Galloway carcases followed, one of which won second prize, the second bullock dressing 66 per cent, and the third prize-winner dressing 64 per cent, of the live weight. The "reserve" carcase next in merit gave 66 per cent, of the live weight of the bullock. The class for long-woolled wether lambs had but one entry* which received no ticket; bat there mi.

a capital display of sbort-woolled lamb carcases. In this class the first prize was won with a heavy Hampshire, dressing 67 per cent., but showing a deal of fat ; the second, a Southdown, dressed 65 per cent., and showed nice quality ; as were the third-pr>zs ororsbred, dressing 66 per cent., and the fourth, Hampshire, dressing 63 per cent. In the Cheviot, mountain, croisbred, or Exmoor wether class the first prize was won with a wonderfully firm Cheviot carcase, dressing as muoh as 69 per cent, of the live weight. The second, also a Cheviot, dressed 65 per cent., as did also the third-prize mountain exhibit. The depressed condition of the frozen meat market is having its effect on the disposal of pastoral leases now falling in. Five runs were put up at auction on Thursday at Inveroargill (says the Southland Times), but instead of there being any competition only two of them, both small, attracted an offer, and that only at j the upset, at which they fell to the present i tenants. The first was run 150b, Wallace j County, 1601 acres, which was entered up to Mrs Rowley, through Messrs Tothill, Watson, and Co., her agents. The other was 491b, 883 acres, Southland County, and the manager for Sir C. W. Adams got that. The others were passed in. The editor of the Wanganui Herald was recently shown » forequarter of mutton which j had been treated to an altogether new proserv- i ing process, and which had been hanging in a | very close ont-office for the past five days. The meat was found to be perfectly sweet, and a further rest is to be made by sending a carcase as general cargo to Auckland and back by one of the steamers leaving for that port. The f aot of the high temperature of the vessel's hold should be a good test, and' the* result will be awaited with interest. It is stated that the t cost of preserving 150 sheep. would be about 6d for that number, and the time taken between 15 and 20 minutes. The inventor claims that the meat will keep perfectly fresh for seven days in the hottest weather or in the worst ventilated room it can be placed in. Fish and all kinds of animal food can be preserved. Mr Waymouth, president of the Christahurch j Chamber of Commerce, thinks that one of the ; causes of the lower price of frozen meat in England is the rise in wheat. "We in this colony," he said, " can hardly realise the stats of poverty in which a large proportion of England's teeming millions live. Could we do so, and also know the number that have only so muoh per week to spend on food, we should also realise that the extra cost of procuring bread, which they must have, must diminish their purchasing power for meat. Want of regularity in supply has also a serious effect upon prices, and this is a subject which should be seriously considered by our North Island and Australian friends. I leave out Canterbury from the fact that as a role we ship about as much mutton during the winter as in the summer months, leaving of course lamb, which is a specialty of its season, out of the question." Moa Flat estate put up a record this Reason, •hearing over 1000 bales of wool. The quality of the staple was first-class. This estate is now ont of the hands of the Clarke family, and is owned by the Union Bank of Australasia.— Tapanui Courier. The annual meeting of the Canterbury Farmers' Co-operative Association was held on 24-th. The directors' report, recommending a dividend of 5 per cent, on capital and a 10 per cent, bonns on the business, was adopted. The credit balance on the year's working was £3606. The retiring directors, except Mr R. H. Rhodes, who did not stand, were re-elected. The Southland Times axya that a small flock | of high-class sheep passed ' through Invercargill by rail one day laist week on their way from Thornbury to Napier. They were a selection from the flock of Mr J. B. Sutton, of Fairview, and numbered 13 — eight rams and five ew«s. It is hardly necessary to say they were Lincolns, that being the breed for which Mr Sutton has established a reputation more than colonial. The individual prices hvre not been revealed, but ranged from 20gs to 50gs. A photograph of the group was taken before they went on. According to the Bruce Herald the supply of milk to the dairy factory, though slackening off, is still something like 1600 gal per day. I understand that the directors mean to put. in a separator to enable them to make butter during the winter months. This will be hailed with delight by farmers who wish to rear calves and pigs, as they will no doubt be able to get their skim milk back with them. The North Ot-go Times states that the harvest is revealing the fact that although there are some capital crops on Ardgowan there are also some very poor ones. A number of the crops had to be put in in a hurry, and, owing to the rain at the time, late in the season. The comequenoe is that these crops are not yielding well ; but where the crop was got in early there is a good yield. At the Kiama. show, according to the Aurtralasian, an interesting milking competition was held. Frizes were offered for corns giving the greatest quantity of milk in 24 hours and butter in 48 hours, and for heifers giving the greatest quantity of milk in 24 hours. The animals were subjected to the tests prior to the .how, competitors giving the secretary notice of the datss of milking, and the cows and heifers being milked three times within 24 hours in the presence of two members 'of the committee. The most coveted award was the first in the 48 hoars' class, because this qualified the winning cow for the herd hook of the association. Here Messrs Craig and Son were remarkably successful, carrying off first, second, third, and fourth prizes. The winning cow gave 951b of milk in 18 hours, which yielded 61b of batter; second,

851b of milk, yielding 41b Boz of butter ; third, 1081b of milk, yielding 41b Boz of butter; fourth, 661b of milk, yielding 31b lloz of butter. 1 In heifers having not more than four permanent j teeth, giving the most milk in 24 hours, Messrs ; Craig and Son again sw&pt the board, taking , both prizes. The heifer placed first produced 491b Boz of milk in 24 hours ; the second, two years old, was fed in tbe same way and produced 391b Boz of milk in 24 hours. In the clais for cows giving the most milk in 24 hours, Mr H. Dudgeon's first-prize milker distanced the others, giving 721b Boz of milk. Mr J. T. Young came second here with an aged cow, giving 621b of milk ; Messrs Craig and Son third, with a cow that yielded 58!b. The appeal by Mr Allan M 'Lean, of Waikakahi, against the classification of his land in the Wainono land drainage district case was again up for hearing at the Magistrate's Court, Waimate, on Friday. The magistrate and. counsel bad visited the lands the oase was in i respect of, and the sitting on Friday was to hear evidence and counsel's addresses. Mr Newton, who appeared for Mr M 'Lean, said it j had been decided not to call evidence, but i counsel would confine themselves to addressing j the court. Mr Newton said that 233 acres of ■ appellant's land had been classified as first-class and 230 acres as seoond-class. He contended ! that the land in question would receive no j j appremable benefit from the drainage works contemplated, and that it would therefore be unfair to tax it. Counsel went fully into the question of how the works would affect the land. The drainage works would nofc'prevent the land being flooded, and if flooded no appreciable benefit would be derived. Mr Hamilton, for the board, said the land was subjeofc to floods by the damming back of the water. The I works would keep the water down, and would thus prevent flooding, as the water would drain off as quickly as it came down. Mr Newton, in reply, said tbe benefit, if any, would be indirect, and would therefore be only of a third-class character. The magistrate reserved his decision. — North Otago Times. With reference to the cocksfoot harvest on I Banks Peninsula the Akaroa Mail says :~" We i I are glad . to ba able to record bstter weather, J and the consequent saving of many sacks of seed, since we last wrote. The effect of the rain has been different in particular localities. For instance, the Little River growers inform us that no seed has grown there at all, and that the sample saved since "the rain, though, of course, a little dark, is a very good sample. At the Eame time they state that the lobs of seed through shedding and myriads of mice and lizards has been enormous. By the bye, we cannot help thinking t_at the lizards are in the position of many human beings that we know are abused without any cause, for we do not believe for a moment they eat any grass seed, but merely get under tbe cocksfoot sheaves to eat the insects which throng there, and which are their natural food. We are sorry to say that the story from the Summit and the Eastern Bays is not so reassuring. There we hear of many paddocks where the seed has grown much, and tbere will be many sheaves that will never be threshed at all. The immense advantage of lifting when the rain stopped and before threshing Was possible has been demonstrated over and over again this •eason. It is impossible yet to estimate the lois, but it is certain that a large portion of the crop has been totally destroyed. Another week's fine weather should see the great majority of the seed that is left safely harvested." The Adelaide Observer of the 13th ult. says : — " The barque Caithness-shire, which I arrived at thn Semaphore on Friday week, has a cargo of 102.000 bushels of wheat from San Francisco, consigned to Messrs John Dunn and Co. This ir the second importation of a full /cargo of foreign grain into South Australia, the first being a shipment in 1882 in the ship Tabor, imported by the same firm. Messrs G. Wood, Son, and Co. are th« agents of the Caitbnesssbire, and it is expected the whole of her cargo will be landed at Fort Adelaide." A Victorian exchange states that the western district of that colony will soon be dotted over with rabbit factories. The supply of milk having fallen off at a butter factory, the buildings are to be used for preserving rabbits, and several other faotories are proposed. According to a report by Professor W. Williams on cattle disease in Jamaica, the Jamaica cattle are suffering from a tick similar to and probably identical with the Queensland pest. It is stated that the native birds destroy large numbers of ticks. Daring last week (says the Australasian of the 13th ult.) the Agricultural department shipped to London by the R.M.S. Valetta and the steamers Damascns, Culgoa, Hinemoa, and the Woollowra 200 tons of butter, 3400 dozen of eggs, 1945 carcases of mutton, 125.000 rabbits, 76 hares, 1200 head of poultry, 800 head of game, and 3£ tons of concentrated milk. The whole was valued at £24,209. After the recent rains there should be a good supply of succulent grass for the next few weeks, and the export of butter ought, therefore, to be extended for a longer period this season than last. The beetroot sugar industry is (<ays the Sydney Mail) being' pluckily entered upon by some of the "Victorian agriculturists. The newly-formed Maffra Company has lodged over £5000 with the Treasurer, and has applied under the Amended Act for a loan from the Government to enable the company to purchase a German plant, to cosb £30,000. If the Treasurer is satibfisd as to the prospects of the company the money will be granted, and by raising anothtr £5000 the body will ba entitled to ft fa ther advance of £10,000. The Australasian _?Asfcnr_l__' Renew says:

"Very great interest is now being taken in a newly-discovered process of preserving hides and skins, which, like many inventions, was discovered by a mere fluke. The preserving agent is so plentiful and oheap that it may now be carted away freiß of cost. The process is simplicity itself, and so thoroughly are the hides cured by the process that they are afterwards tanned by being placed only a few days in the tan-pit. Samples of hides and skins cured by the process are on view at the offices of the patentees, and experts all acknowledge that the work has been done most thoroughly. Thoso who are in the secret express surprise th.»li the idea did not oocur to them long ago. If it proves the success it promises to do it will open up great possibilities for the curing and sending forward to market of millions of marsupial skins which are now permitted to go to waste in the far interior. Bear and other skins, with the fnr on, are perfectly cured by the process, and sheepskins are shown also perfectly cured without any injury either to the fur or wool."